difficulty in the snow

[town325i]

yes i gave it back to nature spread it on the road

[Raj_p]

haha...

Ive got a 60mm drop and the negative camber is bad...

My cortina is awesome in snow with winter tyres...

[tonybtonyb]

Is it a bird is it a plane Nooo the white transit van has come out to play!Yes the cab is asleep well until the snow stops when ever that happens.I've got some meaty tyres on the transit so getting about is not to bad at the moment and with some extra weight in the back (concrete blocks).

[e30mazm3]

Sorry i didnt mean to come across as arrogant and anti-social. Just frustrates me sometimes when people refer to the "e30" as the god of cars! Theyre not that good. Agreed there better than ALOT of crap from that era and they have a classic status, but banging on every 5 mins about my e30 does this and his mates, cousins, mum said it was the nicest car she ever sat in and it handles like its on rails blah blah blah

I do share the same interest as you all with the e30 but i dont really want to lick its tailpipes.

My M3 GT on the other hand.........................................














(Hasnt even got an exhaust at the moment )

[DanThe]

My E34 touring is fooking great with the M+S tyres, ive been looking at E34 iX's

And as for fooking neighbours.... Out of all the people in the world why do we always get stuck with nob heads. I cleared around my parking space on the road once a few years ago so I could get into the car with snow free shoes and one of the tw4ts parks in it. Now I go out to my car in a morning with a big bottle of luke warm water to clear the screen, any that doesnt get used goes in the road, maybe it will help one of their FWD shitheaps to understeer the corner at the bottom of the decline I park on

[HJG-E30]

I saw a 1-series in town today....with snow chains on its FRONT wheels only!!!!

The 1-series seems to be particularly bad in the snow. I reckon this is because some owners aren't even aware that they're RWD!

[DanThe]

Saw two smashed 1's on Saturday!

[tonybtonyb]

Saw two smashed 1's on Saturday!

More spares are you sure these are Bmw drivers lol

[320iAN]

at one point i was picking up 2 folk on my way in to work due to there X5's being utter useless in the snow

Bulls**t. X5s are awesome in the snow how can you compare them to your little rust heap rear wheel drive?

ehh .. let me see firstly "my little rust heap" as you call it is probably one of thee cleanest, rust free, never welded examples you could posably find & as for the 2 guy's who i work with and gave both of them a lift in & out of work.. 1 off them could not get his X5 up the small slope in his drive & the other bogged his in.
& to rub some salt in to one of my work mate's wounds ... his wife's little 8yr old Clio drove around his X5 & drove straight out there driveway with hardly any slipping

and i'd never lick the tailpipes of any car ive owned, more a case of credit where it's due & over the past few weeks my E30 has deserved it's credit

[DanThe]

Its an iS boys, it has super powers

[Simon13]

1 series and e90 seem very bad, or anything with runflat tyres i've noticed.

[320iAN]

Its an iS boys, it has super powers

lol .. nah i don't go for all this galvanized, 4 pot V 6 pot .... etc, etc stuff
but i have got 22yrs experience of driving RWD's

[Grrrmachine]

Yeah, I've got 22 years RWD experience too. It came free when I bought the car.

[320iAN]

Yeah, I've got 22 years RWD experience too. It came free when I bought the car.

that's nice for you .. does that mean i have 42 yrs experience then

[Dezzy]

Exactly what we have found here.

Work is at the bottom of a small incline and we are pushing 1 series up the road daily.

Almost nothing else struggles

[DanThe]

1 series and e90 seem very bad, or anything with runflat tyres i've noticed.

Probably because theyre rock hard, I suppose they should have been changed in November really. I doubt the crap winter performance was even mentioned by the salesfool...

[bullwinkle]

I had a 1 Series for 4 years and can confirm that it was awful in the snow/ice. Deliberately parked on the flat but even that didnt matter - 2nd gear, clutch up, get out to see wheels slowly turning on the spot. Incline = fail.

Tried to use the iS this time round but with new, fairly firm springs/dampers it too is depressingly bad. Going home last night I got 100 yds up a very, very shallow gradient doing 3mph struggling to keep (get!) any traction. Turned round, borrowed a Mini from work and sailed home.

Just to add to the X5 rant - I quite like 'em but did pass one (in the Mini) last night going uphill. Black, blacked out windows on what looked like 22's going nowhere.

I'm now determind to 'do' a winter E30 for next year - something cheap with winter/snow tyres, LSD and suspension to suit. Apart from weight in the boot I'm guessing a nice, soft rear end would help?

[asmith88]

exactly what i was thinking, i bet itl be the warmest winter on record next year..

[Simon13]

my e30 with 16x8 rears and sumer tyres has been going anywhere we needed! LSD helps imo. nothing in the boot bar a shovel and gloves

I think the main key is not tyres not the car not anything. It comes down to the driver. the rest just helps a bit or alot in some cases

[lugy]

I'd definitely agree that an LSD helps, my old Merc 190 16v was brilliant in the snow and would go quite a lot of places (some were quite silly too). My W140 was pretty good too, even on 235 wide tyres, when you turned the TC "off" - it stayed on a little giving just that wee bit help it needed.

The E30 is quite crap though, I've never been stuck yet but it can take a while to get places! It's still good fun though mind!

As for the 4x4 thing, well I just sold my lifted V8 Disco

[bullwinkle]

I'd say tyres and suspension have a lot to do with it. Firm springs and dampers REALLY dont help in the snow and ice. And I do have an LSD.

Granted, driver input is extremely important in these conditions but if you dont have any traction to start with....

[e30-EVN]

Then your fooked

[Jon_Bmw]

If the car/tyre combination spins on tickover like my e39 this morning and you have no way of going backwards to build up momentum or find grip. It doesn't matter how much of a hero you are behind the wheel.

I got in the FWD audi on the drive and took that instead. It just about got out of the drive. BMWs that arn't weighed down with 1/2 a ton of concrete just arn't as good as FWD in the snow.

[Dezzy]

540 manual's arnt what i would call a snow car

[320Touring]

I've spent a lot of time pushing e90 Cabs (or whatver e number they are..) out of our carpark here.

The traction control comes back on even after its been put off,

so you cant really slip the clutch in a higher gear.

really quite depressing..

My £450 Scaaab is thundering along ok, and the Burd's 1.2 Clio (r reg) with 165/70 R13 tyres is sublime in the snow..

[e30-EVN]

My shitbox corrolla was awsome last year, bought it deliberatly for the white stuff, 195-50-15's on it to and she was a trooper lol, good times last year but this year only have the m50 powered e30 so waiting for the shit to feck off!

[Jon_Bmw]

540 manual's arnt what i would call a snow car

It is the worse car I have EVER driven in the snow, but for the other 51 weeks of the year it is pleasent enough.

[DanThe]

No matter how good you think your car is or isnt, all these E30's out braving the snow are just knocking years off their life expectancy, see you in the scrap yards

[e30-EVN]

Very true ^^ that's why mine is wrapped up in her garage ..... For now!

[pacerpete]

No matter how good you think your car is or isnt, all these E30's out braving the snow are just knocking years off their life expectancy, see you in the scrap yards

Most are corpses on stretchers already

Suburban with grabber ATs FTW !

[Dezzy]

540 manual's arnt what i would call a snow car

It is the worse car I have EVER driven in the snow, but for the other 51 weeks of the year it is pleasent enough.

I bet mate

@ Dan the E30' that are getting abused in the snow wont be worth anything now never mind once they have been weighed in

[jimmyspeed]

No matter how good you think your car is or isnt, all these E30's out braving the snow are just knocking years off their life expectancy, see you in the scrap yards

i can actually see the rust growing on the chrome of the rear bumper - bring on the csl version !!!!!!

[Kos]

No matter how good you think your car is or isnt, all these E30's out braving the snow are just knocking years off their life expectancy, see you in the scrap yards

Most are corpses on stretchers already

Suburban with grabber ATs FTW !

the e39 i've been driving has been very twitchy. 255/40's are not good in snow/sleet/sludge. i've left the traction control most of the time but had to turn it off several times but never got stuck

however, the landcruiser dads got......with the BFG's had been superb.

[MickoE30]

Got a set of Dunlop winter tyres and put them on 14" bottletops.

Put an old diff + 2 BBS rims with tyres in the boot

Seriously impressed - car will go anywhere now!

You are welcome to try it out if you are about Belfast

[Scruffymurphy]

I have 15 inch wheels on the back with snow tyres and bottletops on the front with good grippy tyres. I find it great. I can go nearly anywhere. The 15" snow tyres are excellent. I can check the make if you want. They're 195/50s.